Ballads

A quiet album by John Hegre and Maja Ratkje. Concréte. Close up. Blues… Dekorder: “Ballads ist the first collaborative album by two key figures of the Norwegian noise, improv, experimental, whatever-you-call-it music scene. Anyone expecting a rackety wall of distorted feedback guitars and voices will be gently surprised though by the sparse and intimate sketches to be found on this wonderful record. Songs are stripped down to their raw bones using only the most essential elements to reveal the soul behind every single sound. Superfluous effects seem to be completely absent, creating an open space for miniscule details, always ready to implode into noisier tracks such as „Private Matter“. The album culminates in „Hammock Moods“, a quietly mesmerizing epic finale with Maja Ratkje humming a beautiful melody over Hegre’s gorgeous near-psychedelic guitar playing. Let’s all hope for a sequel to this album!”